Sunday, August 07, 2016

World Vision International is an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1950 by Robert Pierce as a service organization to meet the emergency needs of missionaries. In 1975 development work was added to World Vision's objectives. It is active in more than 90 countries with a total revenue including grants, product and foreign donations of $2.79 billion (2011).

On Thursday, Israel's General Security Agency charged Mohammed el-Halabi, the Gaza director of World Vision, with siphoning off $43 million of aid money from World Vision in the past six years and giving it too Hamas.

Mohammad El Halabi, the manager of Gaza operations for World Vision,
the Christian charity group, was arrested in June at the Erez Crossing
between Israel and Gaza while on his way home from meetings in Israel.
He spent the next nearly two months in Israeli detention. Israel charged
Halabi on Thursday with providing support to Hamas, which governs the
Gaza Strip and which Israel and the U.S. regard as a terrorist
organization.

Haaretz has more on the case
based on a briefing given to reporters by an official from Shin Bet,
Israel’s internal security service, and because a gag order imposed in
the case was lifted Thursday. Here’s more from the Israeli newspaper:

The charge sheet says that Halabi, with a masters degree in
engineering, joined Hamas's armed wing Izzedin al-Qassam in 2004 and was
asked a year later to infiltrate a humanitarian organization so as “to
be close to decision makers in a foreign organization, to be involved in
the group and operate secretly to advance al-Qassam's interests.”

The Shin Bet accuses Halabi of joining World Vision and sending its
funds to Hamas’ military wing, some of it to fund digging
military-related tunnels and to purchase weapons.

The Shin Bet alleges that a sum of $80,000 contributed by British
donors to assist needy families, and support civilian projects in Gaza
were used to build a Hamas position in the Gaza town of Beit Hanun, to
pay Hamas activists’ salaries and bonuses members who had fought against
Israel in the 2014 war.

Halabi’s attorney rejected the charges, telling Haaretz
the fact the World Vision official was detained for 55 days before
charges were announced proves, in the words of the newspaper, “there’s a
problem with the evidence.”

The government of Australia doesn't think there's a problem with the evidence: They immediately suspended all aid to World Vision projects in the 'Palestinian territories.'

A Shin Bet official cited by The New York Times
said there was no evidence that World Vision had been aware of Halabi’s
alleged activities. But Tim Costello, the head of World Vision
Australia, which is heavily involved in the Gaza project, told the Times the
organization was “very worried” about the impact of the allegations.
Indeed, the Australian government said Thursday it was suspending
funding to the group’s projects in the Palestinian territories.

World Vision announced on Friday that it will not receive funds from
the German government because of the allegations Hamas misused funds,
according to a report in the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel.

“The 3.6
million euro, which we received from the [German] Federal Development
Ministry and [German] Foreign Affairs Ministry for new projects in the
region will no longer be provided until the accusations are clarified,”
said a spokeswoman for the World Vision.

Volker Beck, the
German Green Party MP and head of the German-Israel parliamentary group
in the Bundestag, said in a statement: “World Vision massively damages
the trust necessary for aid work for the people in Gaza,” adding that
“Hamas is a terrorist organization, which should not be financed with
tax-payer funds.”

The paper reported that as much as 1.1 million
euro from Germany was transferred to World Vision in Gaza since 2010.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that it welcomed Australia and Germany’s
suspension of funds.

But all of that isn't enough for the New York Times' Diaa Hadid. Although she didn't write this in the newspaper (which perhaps might have had the integrity not to publish it), on her personal Twitter page, she was busy making excuses for el-Halabi.

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com